The next morning arrived veiled in silver mist, cloaking the academy in a
soft stillness. Skyreach, suspended high above the drifting lands of Alunara,
shimmered faintly under the pale light.
Most students stirred with anticipation. Their first official training day
had come.
But not all hearts were light.
✦ The Ache Within
Advait sat at the edge of his bed, unmoving.
Somewhere inside him, something stirred. Not quite a memory. Not quite pain.
Just an emptiness—familiar and sharp, like the echo of a song he had never
heard but still missed.
He reached for the small wooden shard he kept tucked beneath the folds of
his robe. Worn, smooth-edged, and meaningless to anyone else. To him—it calmed
the pull in his chest.
He didn't know where it came from. He only knew he could never throw it
away.
Across the academy tower, in a room much messier and louder, Viaan ran a
hand through his wild hair and stared at the broken pendant
lying on his desk.
A crescent-shaped piece of sunstone. Cracked down the center.
He didn't wear it publicly—just kept it close, hidden beneath his shirt.
He'd had it for as long as he could remember. No one knew where it came from.
He only knew that whenever he felt... wrong—restless, unsure, like
part of him was missing—he touched it.
And today, he'd already reached for it three times.
✦ The First Gathering
The students assembled in the eastern training field, where shimmering runes
floated just above the grass. The sky churned with distant clouds, casting
ribbons of silver across the marble tiles.
Instructor Calisya waited calmly at the front, her gaze level and
unreadable.
"Today, you will begin your resonance training. Before
battle. Before spellwork. You must first learn to listen."
At her signal, glowing Resonance Orbs drifted into the
air—crystal spheres that pulsed with soft energy.
"These orbs are sensitive not to magic," she said, "but to what lies beneath
it. Your emotion. Your inner balance."
Nervous glances passed between students. Some laughed it off. Others looked
uneasy.
Viaan raised an eyebrow. "Emotional orb day? Didn't see that coming."
Advait stood a little apart, still as a shadow. His eyes were locked on the
orbs.
✦ The Testing
One by one, students stepped forward.
Some glowed bright blue or red—emotional turbulence. A few flickered
green—calm but shallow. Most fell somewhere in between.
Then:
"Viaan Sola."
He stepped up, all smirking confidence. "Alright, let's see how messy my
soul really is."
He touched the orb.
It flared gold—then stumbled into chaotic orange, sputtering with a spark of
red. Not dangerous, but volatile. Wild. Deep. Conflicted.
Calisya nodded, unreadable. "You may sit."
Viaan let out a half-laugh. "Guess I'm a sunrise with thunderstorms."
Then came the name:
"Advait Luna."
Silence followed him as he moved forward.
He took the orb gently—like it might break.
Nothing happened.
Then, just as some students shifted uncomfortably, the orb shimmered—once.
White. Brief. Clean. And gone.
Gasps rose. A few instructors stiffened.
But Calisya only said, "You may sit."
✦ Resonance Sync Exercise
Later, they were paired for a second exercise—energy alignment.
Each duo held a conduit crystal and attempted to match their inner rhythm to
one another.
Viaan was matched with a cocky fire-wielder from his own clan.
"You're all flash, no focus," the boy scoffed when the crystal sparked out.
Viaan grinned, but his voice dipped low. "Want me to prove how focused I can
be?"
Advait's partner—a soft-spoken water-wielder—couldn't sync with him at all.
The crystal refused to glow.
"It's like your power's... locked," the instructor said. "Caged."
Advait said nothing.
But something in his gaze darkened.
✦ The Hall of Echoes
That evening, the students were shown a gallery within the academy—The
Hall of Echoes. It was filled with relics from Alunara's lost era:
fragments of ancient weapons, shards of forgotten artifacts, books bound in
languages no longer spoken.
But among them was a long, curved display of ancient musical instruments.
Most passed it by.
But Advait stopped—fingers brushing the glass without thinking. One of the
pieces—an old, broken veena—made his breath catch.
He didn't know why.
At the other end, Viaan slowed. His eyes locked onto a cracked flute encased
in crystal.
For a second, his hand moved toward the glass—then curled into a fist.
He turned away.
But that night, in his room, he clutched the pendant again.
Hard. As if trying to will it to speak.
Advait stared at the wooden shard by candlelight, his fingers tracing a
curve he couldn't name.
✦ A Moment Between Them
They met again in the training courtyard—by accident.
Viaan had wandered outside to clear his head. Advait was already there,
sitting beneath a tree as
yesterday.
Neither was surprised to see the other.
Viaan stopped a few steps away, then slowly sat down—not too close, not too
far.
"Today sucked," he muttered.
Advait gave the faintest nod.
"You ever feel like you're chasing something, but you don't know what it
looks like?"
A long silence passed.
"Yes," Advait said softly. "Like hearing a note in a song that hasn't been
written yet."
They didn't speak after that.
But neither moved.
Above them, the stars shimmered in silence.
And somewhere in the stillness, two melodies stirred—yet unheard, yet
unfinished.
But waiting.